Cup mouthpiece for brass instruments



Jan. 4, 1938. A. A. LUNOW CUP MOUTHPIECE FOR BRASS INSTRUMENTS FiledJune 4, 1936 Patented Jan. 4, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFKIE CUPMOUTHPIEGE FOR BRASS INSTRU- MENTS Claims.

My present invention provides an improvement in Cup mouthpieces forbrass instruments, such as cornets and the larger brass instruments ofthe type wherein cup or bell-shaped mouth- 5 pieces are employed.

The standard cup mouthpieces for wind instruments are provided withinteriors that are surfaces of revolution; that is, from the axis of thebell, the radial sections at all places are alike, and the rims of themouthpieces are circular. Such mouthpieces are very satisfactory in theproduction of the lower notes, but are not ideal for the production ofthe higher notes. I found by experiment that the ideal mouthpieces canbe r produced by a modification of the standard mouthpiece whichconsists in inwardly or downwardly bulging the upper wall of themouthpiece, at a place between the circular rim and the axial airpassage of the mouthpiece. The structure, by which the improved resultabove generally indicated is accomplished and the reasons therefor willbe more fully disclosed in the following description of a preferred formof the improved mouthpiece.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the improved mouthpiece,and wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the severalviews:

Fig. 1 is a front end elevation of the mouth- Fig. 2 is an axial sectiontaken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

The cup or bell 5 of the mouthpiece is provided with the customary stem6 and has the customary circular rim 1. For a short distance inward, towit: approximately to the point 8, the interior of the cup is a truesurface of rotation around the axis of the stem 6. If the cup were anordinary or standard cup, its interior would continue to be a surface ofrotation of the curved line 9 and the dotted curved line Ill.

The feature of this invention consists in forming the interior of thecup in its upper portion with an inwardly bulging segment II. The innersurface l l, which on the section line 2, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, isbrought much closer to the upper lip of the player than is the line ID.This segment I l, as shown in Fig. 1, is preferably extended throughrather less than the upper half of the cup, and at its radial line (a)will blend into the remaining interior of the bell, which latter isformed by rotation of the line 9. The reasons for the improvement in theaction of this modified mouthpiece is substantially as follows: Theplayer in producing low notes directs the blast of air downward towardthe axis of the stem 6 and toward the surface 9, which latter is muchfurther from the upper wall than is the surface Il In the production ofhigher notes, the air is blown more in an upwardly direction and againstor toward the surface H It has been found that, for the easy productionof high notes, the surface against which the air is directed should bemuch closer to the upper lip than for the production of low notes. Thesurface II in this improved mouthpiece is, of course, relatively closeto the upper lip so that the air space between the upper lip of the saidsurface is relatively small as compared with the surface in a standardmouthpiece in which the entire interior of the mouthpiece is a surfaceof revolution.

Extensive use of this improved mouthpiece, not only by myself, but otherexpert oornetists and players of wind instruments, has thoroughlydemonstrated the fact that with this improved mouthpiece, the high notescan be produced with much greater ease than with the standardmouthpiece, and moreover, the low notes can be produced with the sameease and facility as with the standard mouthpiece.

Experiments have demonstrated that the best form of the mouthpiecerequires not only the features above particularly described, but thatthe rim of the cup or bell should not only be round, but that it shouldbe concentric to the axis of the stem, and its outer surface should bein a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the stem.

Also, the interior of the rim for some considerable distance inwardshould be a true surface of rotation around the axis of the stem andthat the upper bulge should be substantially as illustrated anddescribed.

The above described form of the mouthpiece, irrespective of anyadditional features or attachments, is herein claimed. However, I havefound that for many purposes the roller feature of my prior Patent No.1,842,681 of date January 26, 1932-, may be added to advantage foraction on the lower lip. In this arrangement, the roller I2 is insertedin a recess of the lower portion of the rim cup, and it is pivoted on astem or pin l3. This roller, when applied, should be at the lowerportion of the cup while the bulge must be in the upper portion of thecup. The purpose of the roller is to give a more easy adjustment of thelower lip of the player, and it is a feature claimed per se in my priorpatent, above identified.

What I claim is:

1. A cup mouth piece for wind musical instruments, the interior of whichin its upper portion is inwardly bulging so that it comes closer to therim of the mouth piece than does the lower surface of said cup, theinterior of the rim of said cup being circular and concentric to thelongitudinal axis of the cup.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the outer surface of therim is in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cup.

3. A cup mouth piece for wind musical instruments, having a hollowtubular stem, the interior of the cup at its lower portion being asurface of rotation around the longitudinal axis of said cup and stem,and said cup in the upper portion of its interior having a surfaceprojected inward and toward the rim of the cup beyond the surface thatwould be produced by a continuation of the surface of rotation of thelower interior portion of the cup, the interior of the rim of said cupbeing circular and concentric to the longitudinal axis of the cup.

4. The structure defined in claim 3 in which the rim of said cup isconcentric to the longitudinal axis of said cup and stem, and the outerportion of which is in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axisof said stem.

5. The structure defined in claim 1 in which said cup is provided in thelower portion of its 15 rim with a roller for the purposes specified.

ARTHUR A. LUNOW.

